Appeals Court Denies Broadcaster Auction Challenge

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has denied a broadcaster challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's incentive auction framework. In August 2014, the National Association of Broadcasters challenged the FCC's broadcast incentive auction, saying that its framework "violates the Spectrum Act; (2) is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion under the Administrative Procedure Act." Sinclair also sued over the auction. The court rejected both challenges.

"Petitioners press a series of arguments challenging the Commission’s implementation of the Spectrum Act’s mandate to expend 'all reasonable efforts' to preserve 'the coverage area and population served' of broadcasters reassigned to new channels in the repacking process. We reject petitioners’ arguments," a three-judge panel of the court said. NAB's primary beef is with how the FCC is proposing to predict TV station coverage areas, which it says could result in significant viewership loss. The NAB says that the FCC changed the methodology (the OET-69 bulletin) in contravention of the statute.